Food and drink brands may have a natural synergy with summer music events, but other sectors can get a return on their investment in festival sponsorship if they fit and enhance the mood, environment and audience profile.

The night before I met Marks & Spencer executive chairman and CEO Stuart Rose and its marketing director Steve Sharp, marketers from some of the world’s biggest brands gathered on the roof of Unilever House on the banks of the Thames to celebrate The Marketing Society’s 50th anniversary. When I mentioned to one group at […]

Procter & Gamble will launch its first brand campaign for Gillette in the UK “in the not too distant future”, according to a spokesman, who adds the move will “drive the brand even more than ever before”. The brand campaign, titled “The Moment”, launched in the US last week with a TV spot featuring global […]

Leading brands, including Kellogg and Coca-Cola, are continuing to plough investment into new product innovation, despite the recession pushing up prices of ingredients, according to a new report. Significantly, many of the new recipes are focused on improving brands’ health credentials by reducing fat, calories, sugar and salt levels. The Food and Drink Federation “Recipe […]

Dutch beer brand Amstel is stepping-up its sponsorship of the Big Chill music festival this year with the creation of an Amstel branded “fringe” programme of events. The programme will be hosted from an “Amstel Bar” by comedy DJs The Cuban Brothers’ Mike Keat, who will play an “eccentric Dutch character” created especially for the […]

Michael Jackson might have hundreds of thousands of dedicated fans mourning his death but marketers would have no hesitation in using his image or stock footage in a marketing campaign. More than 70% of respondents to last week’s MarketingWeek.co.uk poll question said that it would not be “wrong” to use the singer in an ad […]

BSM is looking to persuade young people that learning to drive is an affordable and accessible option, with a new marketing drive and brand refresh. The driving school is updating its brand and materials to have a more youthful appeal ahead of its 100th anniversary in 2010. It has hired TheAgency to lead advertising and […]

Motorola is bolstering its digital marketing strategy with the creation of a chief digital role for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and key Asian markets. Marco Ottonello, an online consultant, has been brought in to take on the role of regional interactive and digital manager and will work in conjunction with the handset maker’s […]

USwitch is launching a joint marketing initiative with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) that offers member clubs a cash incentive to use the comparison site. Participating RFU clubs will receive cashback for every member, friend or supporter who switches energy supplier or personal finance provider through a co-branded site dubbed the “conversion zone” from September. […]